Monthly Archives: September, 2018

When it comes to games with two or more home runs, Ryan Braun is the king for the Milwaukee Brewers.

In the span of four days, Braun hit a pair of home runs in two games; Braun hit a pair against the St. Louis Cardinals on September 25 and then hit two against the Detroit Tigers on September 28.

Braun tops the Milwaukee franchise with the most multi-home run games in a career with 32. He is followed by Prince Fielder with 22 and Gorman Thomas with 19. Braun is, however, nowhere near the leader board when it comes to the most multi-HR games in MLB history. Leading the way is Babe Ruth with 72 followed by Barry Bonds with 71. Others with 60 or more career multi-HR games: Sammy Sosa (69), Mark McGwire (67), Willie Mays (63) and Hank Aaron and Alex Rodriguez (each with 62).

The Brewers have had five players hit two or more home runs in a game this season. Braun has done it four times followed by Jesus Aguilar with three games. The other three Brewers players with multi-HR games this year (each with one game) are Keon Broxton, Eric Thames and Christian Yelich.

Following are the MLB players with the most multi-HR games in a season.

Robin Yount holds the Brewers record for most games with two or more home runs in a season with seven (he did it in 1982). Gorman Thomas had six multi-HR games, also in 1982, while Richie Sexson had six in 2001. Braun had six multi-HR games in both 2012 and 2016.

Here are some of the numbers that helped define the Packers 31-17 loss to the Washington Redskins on September 23.

One thing is for certain… the Packers have gotten off to slow starts this season. They are -25 in points in the first half and +12 in points in the second half.

Green Bay is now 15-10 (.600) versus the NFC East in the Mike McCarthy era.

The Packers are 6-7 (.462) in away games versus the NFC East since 2006.

In the Super Bowl era (since 1966) Green Bay is now 7-5 (.583) in games played after a tie game.

Yesterday’s game was played in the Eastern Standard Time; the Pack is now 3-7 in their last 10 games played in the EST zone. They are 33-41 (.446) in EST games since 2000.

Washington scored first in the contest. The Packers are now 6-14 in their last 20 road games when their opponents score first.

Green Bay allowed 14 points in the first quarter. They are now 32-40-1 (.445) in games when they allow seven or more points to the opponent in the first quarter.

Washington running back Adrian Peterson had 120 yards on 19 carries in the game. Of the eight highest rushing yardage regular season games in Peterson’s career, three came against the Pack.

Green Bay had 11 penalties in the game. They are now 13-10 (.565) in games since 2006 when they have 10 or more accepted penalties.

The Packers did not score in the first quarter. They are now 16-17 (.485) in away games since 2006 when they do not score in the first quarter.

Green Bay was down by 18 points (28-10) at halftime. Since 1966, the team is 2-34 in games when they are behind by 18 points or more at halftime.

The Packers were assessed 115 yards in penalties. They have now lost four of their last six games when they get 100 or more penalty yards in a contest.

Adrian Peterson’s 120 yards rushing was the ninth time he has had a 100-yard rushing game versus the Packers in his career. The most 100-yard rushing games against the Pack is held by Walter Payton with 13. Barry Sanders is second with 10 such games.

The Packers are 1-14-1 (.094) in the last 16 games where they allowed the opposition to score 28 or more points. In the McCarthy era, they are 10-41-1 (.202) when they allow 28 or more points in a game

Green Bay is 3-17 in the last 20 games when they score less than 20 points in the contest. In the McCarthy era, the team is 12-41 (.226) when they put less than 20 points on the scoreboard.

The Pack allowed the Redskins to score 28 points I the first half. The team is 0-22 in their history when they allow an opponent to score 28 or more points in the first half.

Since 2000, Green Bay is 52-34 (.605) when they are behind after the first quarter.

Aaron Rodgers was sacked four times. Green Bay is 22-37-1 (.375) since 2000 when their QB is sacked four or more times in a game.

The Packers defense was unable to sack ‘Skins QB Alex Smith. The Packers are 13-22 (.371) since 2000 when they do not register a sack in a game.

New Brewers starter Gio Gonzalez got the victory in yesterday’s (September 19) win over Cincinnati, 7-0. He pitched six innings of two-hit ball and had five strikeouts. What made the win even sweeter for Gonzalez was that it came on his 33rd birthday.

Gonzalez became the 13th pitcher in franchise history to win a game on his birthday. It was also the second time it has happened in his career; he won a game on his birthday with the Washington Nationals.

This was also the second time this season that a Milwaukee pitcher was the winning pitcher in a game on his birthday; back on April 17, Dan Jennings was the winning pitcher.

Here’s a look at the 15 times a pitcher has won a game on their birthday for the Brewers franchise (two pitchers did it twice; two pitchers did it in 1969 when the team was the Seattle Pilots).

Of the pitchers listed above, two pitched complete games… Krausse and Woodard (on May 15, 1999).

There have been 78 pitchers who have won two or more games on their birthdays in MLB history. Topping the list is Bobo Newson who had five victories on his birthday. He is followed by Tim Wakefield and Jerry Reuss, each with four birthday wins. There are 17 pitchers who won games on three of their birthdays.

Here are some of the numbers that helped define the Packers 29-29 tie with the Minnesota Vikings on September 16.

The 29-29 final score was the first time in NFL history that a game ended with a 29-29 score.

This is the first 1-0-1 start after two games for the Packers in the Mike McCarthy era. The Packers have started the first two games of a season 0-2 only once (2006) during the McCarthy era, were 1-1 after two games in six seasons (2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017) and have begun the season 2-0 five times (2007, 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2015).

Green Bay is now 12-5-2 versus the Minnesota Vikings at Lambeau Field since 2000. In their last six games at Lambeau against the Vikes, the Pack is 2-2-2.

The Packers are 58-42-4 (.577 winning percentage) in September games at Lambeau since 1966. They are, however, 23-10-1 in September games at Lambeau since 2000, a .691 winning percentage since 2000.

Green Bay has now gone five straight regular season games without scoring on their first drive of the game.

The blocked punt recovered for a TD by rookie Josh Jackson was the first special teams TD since September 9, 2012 when Randall Cobb returned a punt 75 yards in a game versus the San Francisco 49ers.

Josh Jackson’s TD was the first by a Green Bay rookie since Jamaal Williams scored a TD last December 10. It was, however, the earliest point in a season that a rookie scored a TD since Eddie Lacy scored a TD in Game One of the 2013 season.

Green Bay scored first in the contest. They are 84-25-2 (.766 winning percentage) in games they score first in the Mike McCarthy era (since 2006). The Packers are 55-9-2 in games at Lambeau Field since 2006 when they score first, a .848 winning percentage.

The Pack had a 10-point lead at halftime. They are now 70-5-1 (.928) in games since 2000 when they have a lead of 10 points or more at halftime. They are now 51-1-1 (.972) when they have a 10-point lead or more at Lambeau since 2000.

Mason Crosby made five field goals in the game, the third time in his career that he connected on five field goals. The Packers are now 11-0-1 when Crosby has four or more field goals in a game. The six field goal attempts (he missed one) are a career-high. Green Bay is 16-2-1 in games when Crosby attempts four or more field goals in a contest.

The Pack had a 13-point lead going into the fourth quarter, 20-7. This was the first time since 2003 that the Packers did not win a game where they had a lead of 13 points or more going into the fourth quarter in a contest at Lambeau Field.

Ha Ha Clinton-Dix intercepted his 12th pass of his career. The Packers, however, are only 5-4-1 in games where Clinton-Dix has an interception (he had two games with a pair of picks).

Kirk Cousins became the fourth QB in history to have four TD passes and 400 or more yards passing in a game versus the Packers. Cousins had four TD passes and 425 yards in the game. The others: Matthew Stafford, Donovan McNabb and Randall Cunningham.

The Vikings had 22 points in the fourth quarter. Green Bay has given up 20 or more points in the fourth quarter 12 times since 1966… they are 3-8-1 in those games. The 22 points scored in the fourth quarter were the third-most in the Super Bowl era against the Pack in the fourth quarter. The most: 31 points in the fourth quarter by the Atlanta Falcons in 1982.

This was the 35th overtime regular season game in team history. GB is 14-15-6 in OT games. This was the fourth OT game the Packers have played in their last 16 contests.

Minnesota kicker Daniel Carlson missed on all three of his field goal attempts. He is the first kicker to miss three FG attempts versus the Packers since Greg Zuerlein went one-for-four on October 11, 2015 for the St. Louis Rams. The last kicker to go 0-for-3 in field goals versus the Pack was Steve Christie of the NY Giants on October 3, 2004. Four kickers have gone 0-for-4 in field goal attempts versus the Packers; the last to do so was Detroit’s Eddie Murray on September 30, 1990.

The Packers did not have a turnover in the game. They are now 53-10-2 (.831) in the Mike McCarthy era when they do not commit a turnover in a game.

Aaron Rodgers attempted 42 passes, completing 30 of those passes, a 71.4% completion rate. It was the eighth game in his career where he attempted 40 or more passes and had a completion rate over 70%. That ranks him 13th on the all-time list. Drew Brees has 30 such games, 15 more than the two players tied for second in this stat, Peyton Manning and Ben Roethlisberger.

The 2018 NFL is one week old. Some team fan bases are excited about the rest of the season while a handful of other faithful are wondering how bad of a season their team will endure.

How important is the first game of the year… specifically, how important is winning Game One in the NFL season to a potential trip to the Super Bowl? Here are 10 stats about winning the first regular season game of the year and how it relates to a spot in the Super Bowl that year.

Of the 104 teams that have played in the 52 Super Bowls, 86 of them (83.7%) won their first game of that season. Sixteen lost their first game, and two teams had their first contest of the season end in a tie.

One Super Bowl team lost their first game of that year in overtime… Tampa Bay in 2002 lost 26-20 to New Orleans in OT.

In 2017, the two Super Bowl opponents, New England and Philadelphia, had different results in their first games of the ’17 campaign: Philly beat Washington 30-17 in Week One while the Pats were a 42-27 loser to Kansas City.

Green Bay has played in five Super Bowls. In those five appearances, the Pack won their first game of the season four times (1966, 1996, 1997, and 2010) and had a tie game in their first game of the season in 1967.

The Super Bowl team with the biggest Week One loss was the Patriots. In 2003, the Pats lost Game One 31-0 to Buffalo, yet they made it to the Super Bowl that season. Eight Super Bowl teams lost their first game of that season by 10 points or more.

Speaking of New England, they have made 10 trips to the Super Bowl. They are 5-5 in Game One in those seasons.

Seven Super Bowl teams shutout their opponents in Game One of that season.

In the last 10 seasons, the 20 Super Bowl teams went 16-4 in their first game of the regular season.

Five teams that won their first game of the season with an overtime victory went on to play in the Super Bowl that season.

The biggest Week One win by a team that went on to play in the Super Bowl was the Oakland Raiders who won their first game of the 1967 season 51-0. The 1991 Washington Redskins won their first game that year 45-0 over Detroit on their way to a Super Bowl visit.